It's been long due.. been wanting to do this for the last 2 yrs.
Got a hold of a mishmash of fire bricks form an old factory (used for kiln) last week.

Been roaming FB site and Rado's too, but every day that I read more and more I feel like building a space shuttle.. or in other words; it's gets me more confused and the urge to be a perfectionist comes up (but on a tight budget).
But bottom line -I'm renting and wish to spend as little as possible on it, and it's gonna be a way to practice before I build one on a trailer/truck. (I wanna be able to remove it one day when moving out of current rental)

I don't know how to calculate the 68% doorway and where to position the chimney etc'.. can I get away with a rectangle shape or dome it?

I got this fire tile, tested it on my outdoor gas burner and this tile went to 170 Celsius in less than 3 min! It might be actually bad for the pizza base if it will be hotter than the rest of the oven

I wanna use this insulating brick under the floor and where ever possible, this is the light weight brick easy to cut too.

I think this has been pointed out before, anyway you say your bricks are light, maybe they are pumice mix, in which case they are a very good insulator but don't hold heat (which is what you need for pizza oven) You will need a big heat absorbing material on the floor if you use these bricks for the dome? Cut those bricks in half and make a dome, it's not hard if you do a little at a time, not much need for a support under the dome if you do it slowly. Buy a small angle grinder with diamond blade, and buy a brick bolster and heavy hammer, just do it!

I did an experiment with the light bricks by placing it on direct flame. They do hold heat! the side facing the flame raves up to more than a 100 degrees while the other side of the brick remains cool.
I think the name for it is Isolite but not 100% sure.
My plan is to use them as the floor (instead of a slab of concrete) and also as the outside of the dome+ rendering.
My cooking floor (the 60cm tiles) is not flat, and when I rest it on the bricks there is a gap (u can see in my other photos). Not sure how to tackle that problem rather than spending money on a ceramic blanket.

My oven is a little tricky, I want to build it in a way that it will be possible to dismantle one day when I move out of here and re-assemble it elsewhere.
Otherwise I'd go for the pompeii design and build something for a 100 years

I wonder if I could crush those lite bricks and perhaps mix it a little cast/plaster mix to make it hold and then I can apply it all over the oven. Sounds crazy? possible?

I did an experiment with the light bricks by placing it on direct flame. They do hold heat! the side facing the flame raves up to more than a 100 degrees while the other side of the brick remains cool.
I think the name for it is Isolite but not 100% sure.

They are insulating bricks and not intended for the inside of an oven, they wont hold and retain heat for an oven.

A good dense oven brick gets saturated right through the brick, thats what keeps the oven cooking for days on end, yours wont do that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gonzo420

(instead of a slab of concrete)

Dude, you seriously need to do some research on how to build an oven properly.

Insulating firebricks are excellent for holding and retaining heat in the wares in a kiln, but because they have such low thermal mass cannot store much heat in themselves. In a WFO the interior is empty apart from air and the mass of the fuel so you need the mass in the floor and walls.

They are insulating bricks and not intended for the inside of an oven, they wont hold and retain heat for an oven.

Guys I'm not using the insulating bricks inside the oven!!

I want to use them as insulators of course, to cut some costs on ceramic blanket and to avoid pouring a slab of concrete (Please look at my photos http://imageshack.us/g/1/10243280/). I'll be moving to a new house next year what am I gonna do with a slab of concrete then?

My design is going to be a little different, I also wish to make the door arch semi removable so I can slide in large cooking trays for roasts.
I am not building a pompeii oven to last for the next 100 yrs! Just need something to cook the job done and be slightly easy to take apart when moving out.

Insulating firebricks are excellent for holding and retaining heat in the wares in a kiln

David do you reckon I can some how mesh some of these bricks up and mix it with some other ingredient to be used as insulating mortar?
It's just that I got a hold of a fair quantity of them for cheap so I better put them to use no? At least as my hearth that's for sure.

Saying that, anyone knows which place in Perth is the cheapest to buy ceramic blanket and refractory concrete?
I got quoted $65 for 16kg of RC and $110 for 3.6 meters of ceramic blanket (not sure of its thickness and or quality)

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